Apparatus for opening a swing door

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for opening swing doors comprises a power operated driving unit for opening the wings of the door. A vertical shaft is situated above the outside upper corner of a wing and in the plane of the closed door wings. The shaft axis is displaced outwardly with respect to the pivoting axis of the wings. One end of the shaft has fixed thereto a movement transmission arm engaging the top of the wing and the other end of the shaft carrys a transmission arm which is connected by linkage means to said power operated driving unit. Owing to displacement of said vertical shaft axis outside of the pivoting axis of the door wing, an angular movement of 90* of the door wings requires an angular movement of less than 90* of said power unit operated transmission arm on the vertical shaft.

United States Patent Bolli 1 Feb. 29, 1972 [54] APPARATUS FOR OPENING A SWING DOOR [72] Inventor: Hans Peter Bolli, Schaffhausen, Switzerland [73] Assignee: Carl Sigerist & Cie, Schaffhausen, Switzerland [22] Filed: May 7, 1970 21 Appl. No.: 35,457

3,462,88l 8/1969 Lynn et al ..49/252 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,145,552 3/1969 Great Britain Primary Examiner-J. Karl Bell AttorneyRonald L Engel, Daniel W. Vittum, Jr., Gomer W. Walters and John A. Waters [5 7] ABSTRACT Apparatus for opening swing doors comprises a power operated driving unit for opening the wings of the door. A vertical shaft is situated above the outside upper comer of a wing and in the plane of the closed door wings. The shaft axis is displaced outwardly with respect to the pivoting axis of the wings. One end of the shaft has fixed thereto a movement transmission arm engaging the top of the wing and the other end of the shaft carrys a transmission arm which is connected by linkage means to said power operated driving unit. Owing to displacement of said vertical shaft axis outside of the pivoting axis of the door wing, an angular movement of 90 of the door wings requires an angular movement of less than 90 of said power unit operated transmission arm on the vertical shaft.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Patented Feb. 29, 1972 3,645,042

INVENTOR.

APPARATUS FOR OPENING A SWING DOOR This invention relates to apparatus for opening a swing door.

Such known devices for example comprise a pneumatic driving unit having a cylinder which is arranged in the plane of the closed door wings or parallel to this plane and which acts on the door wings by means of movement transmission members, these latter being usually situated in dead center position when the door wings are closed. For this reason the pneumatic driving unit of such devices can not produce a torque when the door wings are in closed position, and accordingly, the opening operation can be initiated only when butting the wings by hand out of closed position. A remote control of the pneumatic drive accordingly is not possible, and moreover, in the beginning of the door operation of the torque exerted by the driving unit is very small.

It is an object of the invention to provide an opening apparatus for swing doors, which avoids these drawbacks.

According to the invention apparatus for opening a swing door having pivotally mounted door wings comprises a vertical shaft having its axis situated in the plane of the closed door wings and displaced outwardly with respect to the pivotal axis of said door wings, a driver arm fixed to said shaft, means on said wings for engaging said driver arm, a movement transmission arm fixed to said shaft, said transmission arm extending at right angles to said plane of the closed door wings when the wings are in closed position, a driving unit, and a movement transmission linkage operatively connecting said transmission arm with said driving unit.

In this apparatus the driving unit can be operated as desired by-butting the door wings or by remote control, i.e., the door wings can be operated automatically and rapidly, the greatest torque being exerted on the door wings at the beginning of the opening operation. Owing to the fact that the axis of said shaft is displaced outwardly with respect to the axis of the door wings, an angular movement of 90 of the door wings can be obtained by means of a smaller angular movement of said transmission arm.

An embodiment of a swing door opening apparatus according'to the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accornpanying drawings.

FIG. l represents a corner portion of a swing door wing with the device for pneumatically opening the door shown in vertical section;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the opening device of the door;

FIG. 3 shows diagrammatically the opening device.

Referring to FIG. 1 the upper comer of a swing door having a metallic frame 1 and a plastic panel 2 is provided with a recess 1' in which a steel angle piece 3 is welded to the frame I. A tube length 4 opening into the recess 1 is fixed to the angle piece 3 and extends into the upper portion of the frame. This tube 4 contains a compression spring 4 exerting pressure ona plunger 1" which cooperates with a fixed cam member 5 on' a support 6 to yieldingly hold the door wing in closed position and to return the wing into closed position after it has been opened. Such spring means for holding swing-doors in closed position and returning the opened wings into closed position are known in the art and do not form a part of the present invention. For example, British Pat. specification No. 1,145,552 discloses a swing door having a spring assembly for holding the door in, and returning the open wingsto, closed position. An upper door hinge 7 has one hinge portion connected to the metal angle piece 3 and the other hinge portion to the fixed support 6.

A roller 8 is rotatably mounted on the upper portion of the frame 1 and engages a longitudinal slot 9 of a driver arm 10 which is fixed to a shaft 11. The axis of this shaft extends vertically and is situated in the plane of the closed door wing, but is outwardly displaced with respect to the axis of rotation of the door wing. The shaft 11 is mounted in a fixed bearing sleeve 12 and its upper end carries a movement transmission arm 13 which, when the door is in closed position, extends at right angles to the plane of the door wing. The outer end of the transmission arm 13 is hingedly connected to one end of a connecting rod 14 the other end of which is hingedly connected to a piston rod 15 of a double acting piston 17 which can reciprocate in a cylinder 16. FIG. 3 diagrammatically shows the driving arrangement for a double swing door. Pressure fluid, e.g., compressed air, can be admitted into the cylinder and exhausted therefrom at both sides of the piston 17 which is shown in its median position in the cylinder 16. When the piston is in the position shown, the door driving linkage, that is the arms 13, connecting rods 14 and piston rods 15, are in the position A shown in full lines and the door wings are in closed position A. When pressure fluid is so admitted into the cylinder 16, that the piston 17 moves towards the right-hand side in FIG. 2, the driving linkages 13, I4,- 15 move towards the right into the end position B shown in dotted lines. This movement of the linkage moves the door wings into the open positions B. When the piston 17 moves towards the opposite end of the cylinder 16, the driving linkages 13, l4, 15 move towards the opposite end position C and the door wings into open position C When the door is closed and one or the other door wing is slightly abutted, a control member, not shown, is actuated to open the admission of compressed air into the cylinder 16 at one side of the piston 17. The piston operates'the movement transmission arms 13 by the-intermediary of the piston rods 15 and connecting rods 14. The arms 13 rotate' the shafts 11 which causes a pivoting movement of the arms 10 to open the door wings. As it is represented in FIGS. 2 and 3, the door wings B or C have effected an angular opening movement of 90 when the piston rods 15 arrive in one of the two extreme positions B or C. For causing an angular movement of 90 of the door wings into open position, the transmission arms 13 and 10 must only effect an angular movement of less than 90, so that also in the extreme position of these two arms 13, a sufficient torque may be exerted on them. After interruption of the admission of pressure fluid into the cylinder 16, the door wings automatically return to closed position by the action of the spring 4'.

The supply of pressure fluid to the cylinder 16 can also be effected by remote control when the control member actuated by butting the door wings is replaced by a corresponding remote control member.

In place of the described pneumatic driving unit it is possible to providea hydraulic or electric driving unit. Such a driving unit, instead of having two fixed positions for the driving linkage as described, could be arranged to provide three fixed positions, namely two fixed extreme positions and a fixed middle position. In this case, the compression spring for closing the door wings can be dispensed with.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for opening a swing door having pivotally mounted-door wings, each of the door wings mounted-to pivot around a vertical pivotal axis immediately adjacent one vertical side of the door wings and along the plane of the wings, comprising: a rotatably mounted vertical shaft, the axis of rotation of the shaft being situated inthe plane of the door wings when the wings are in a closed position and displaced outwardly with respect to the vertical pivotal axis of said door wings, a driver arm fixed to said shaft, means on said wings for engaging said driver arm so that said door wings will pivot about the vertical pivotal axis as said shaft and driver arm rotate, a movement transmissionar-m fixed to said shaft, said transmission arm extending at right angles to said plane of the door wings when the wings are in closed position, a driving unit, and a movement transmission linkage operatively connecting said movement transmission arm with said driving unit so that said transmission arm rotates said shaft in response to operation of said drive unit.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which said driving unit comprises a horizontally disposed cylinder having its axis situated in said plane of the closed door wings, and further comprising spring means mounted in said door wings and coacting with fixed cam surfaces for maintaining the door wings in closed position.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which said driving unit provides two fixed extreme positions and a fixed middle position for said movement transmission linkage. 

1. Apparatus for opening a swing door having pivotally mounted door wings, each of the door wings mounted to pivot around a vertical pivotal axis immediately adjacent one vertical side of the door wings and along the plane of the wings, comprising: a rotatably mounted vertical shaft, the axis of rotation of the shaft being situated in the plane of the door wings when the wings are in a closed position and displaced outwardly with respect to the vertical pivotal axis of said door wings, a driver arm fixed to said shaft, means on said wings for engaging said driver arm so that said door wings will pivot about the vertical pivotal axis as said shaft and driver arm rotate, a movement transmission arm fixed to said shaft, said transmission arm extending at right angles to said plane of the door wings when the wings are in closed position, a driving unit, and a movement transmission linkage operatively connecting said movement transmission arm with said driving unit so that said transmission arm rotates said shaft in response to operation of said drive unit.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which said driving unit comprises a horizontally disposed cylinder having its axis situated in said plane of the closed door wings, and further comprising spring means mounted in said door wings and coacting with fixed cam surfaces for maintaining the door wings in closed position.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which said driving unit provides two fixed extreme positions and a fixed middle position for said movement transmission linkage. 